Doors, particularly for garages



April 30, 1957 P, s. FALCONER 2,790,210

DOORS, PARTICULARLY FOR GARAGES Filed March 15, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR F UER 5mm mcouen c I m ATTORNEY April 30, 1957 P. s. FALCONER 2,790,210

DOORS, PARTICULARLY FOR GARAGES Filed March 15, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR PETER 5mm FALCONER m &%

ATTORNEY DOORS, PARTICULARLY FOR GARAGES Peter Serrell Falconer, Stroud, England Application March 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,070

8 Claims. (Cl. 20-16) This invention relates to doors, particularly for garages.

It is the object of the invention to provide an 1mproved construction of door assembly of the kind (hereinafter mentioned as the kind referred to) in which the door is provided, adjacent each of its two vertical edges with a mounting bracket having a fulcrum, the common pivotal axis of said fulcra being horizontal and being displaced a substantial distance behind the door, and at about half the height of the latter, so that by lifting said door it is caused to swing upwards and backwards through approximately a right angle to a substantially horizontal position in the ceiling space. The improved construction is simple to manufacture and install, and is moreover very light in operation.

According to the invention, in a door assembly of the kind referred to, each mounting bracket includes a batten member having a curved front surface attached to a sheet of material forming the door, which material is held by the batten members in a curved state. The door itself may thus be composed of simple flat sheet of material such as plywood, which is bent to a cylindrical curvature and is held curved by the batten members to whichit is firmly secured; thus the sheet material composing the door is curved in vertical section but is substantially straight in horizontal section. Alternatively of course the sheet material may be moulded or fabricated so that it naturally has a curved shape to suit the batten members.

Preferably a pair of diagonal tie members extend be tween opposite corners of the sheet forming the door. Conveniently the tie members are secured to the batten members and are provided with adjusting means for varying the efiective length.

If desired the door assembly may incorporate holding means comprising a movable latch member which extends down one side of the door for substantially the whole height thereof, and actuating mechanism for displacing said latch member sideways, thereby causing the door assembly to increase in total width, and thus to become jammed in the door opening. The latch member can comprise a curved strip which is mounted slidably behind the sheet forming the door and is guided by pin and slot means so as to be slidable bodily sideways.

Each mounting bracket may have a fulcrum comprising a bearing pedestal, the foot of said pedestal being substantially level with the bottom of the door, when closed. Preferably each mounting bracket is extended beyond the fulcrum and is provided upon the extension with a counterweight.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided for building a door assembly of the kind referred to, a mounting bracket comprising an upright batten member having a front face which is convexly curved as seen in side elevation, a plurality of arms extending from said batten member to a fulcrum having its axis horizontal, the arms being continued beyond the fulcrum 311i rates Patent g Patented Apr. 30, 1957 the door, the section being taken on the line 3-3 of' Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a sectional plan view of the locking means,

the section being taken on the line 44 of Figure 3 and being drawn to an enlarged scale. I

The illustrated example is a door of a domestic or other small garage or like building, which latter is indi-' cated at 10; it has a door opening, say about 8 feet square, formed by a lintel 11, a pair of door posts 12, 13 and the usual garage floor 14. The door proper is composed of a single sheet of plywood 15, said inch thick, which is naturally flat but is held in a cylindrically curved form due to the fact that it is firmly secured to a pair of suitably shaped pivotal bracket members, these being indicated generally at 16 and 17 in Figures 2 and 3. Each bracket member is in the form of a rigid frame work fabricated from steel tubes welded together and comprises an upper arm 18, a lower arm 19, an armately curved batten member 20 in the form of a squaresection tube secured to the front ends of the arms 18, 19, a fulcrum bush 21 welded between the arms 18, 19 and a hollow rectangular container 22 secured to the rear ends of the arms 18,19 to hold heavy material, such as sand, so as to act as a counterweight. The arms 18, 19 are widely spaced at their front ends and converge towards the fulcrum bush 21, their'rear ends then diverging towards the counterweight container 22.

A similar mounting bracket is provided at each side of the door and each is pivotally supported by a pedestal of the form shown in Figure 1. It comprises an upright 23 made of'a'ngle steel and having a bottom plate or foot 24 whichis secured to the floor 14 by screws 25. At its upper endthe pedestal rigidly supports an overhanging rod 26 uponwhich the fulcrum bush 21 turns freely, endwise displacement being prevented by a washer (not shown) secured to the end of the rod to form a retaining flange. A piece of angle steel 27 welded to the top of the upright 23, is adapted to be fastened to the corresponding garage side Wall 28 by screws 29 to steady the upright and locate the fulcrum; it will be apparent however that the vertical loading on the fulcrum, due mainly to'the counterbalance weight 22, is' borne directly by the upright 23 and foot 24. The two brackets 16, 17 are of substantially the same construction, and although only the bracket 16 has been described, those parts of the bracket 17 which appear in the drawings are indicated by the same references but with the suflix a.

The upright batten members 20, 20a are arcuately curved to a much greater radius than the actual operating radius about the coaxial fulcrum rods 26, 26a. Preferably the actual radius of curvature, indicated at R is approximately five times the maximum operating radius r (which is usually the distance from the top edge or the bottom edge of the door to the fulcrum); the operating radius r can advantageously be between three and eight times the maximum operating radius r.

The curving of the sheet material 15 forming the door considerably enhances its rigidity, but it is found to be desirable to incorporate stiffeners 30, 31 along the upper and lower margins of the door 15. These are screwed or bolted to the sheet material and their ends are also attached tohorizontal flanges .32, 32a formed upon gusset plates 33, 33a which are welded to the upper and lower end parts of the batten members 20, 20a. Furthermore a pair of diagonal tie members 34, 35 are provided, these being in the form of metal strips bolted at their lower ends to the lower gusset plates 32, 32a, while their upper ends are anchored to the upper gusset plates byturnbuckles 36 and 37 by which the tension in the respective tie members can be closely adjusted to suit requirements. Where the tie members cross, they are slotted longitudinally and, after adjustment, are clamped rigidly together by a bolt 38. By this means a very rigid but light door structure is produced and, after the door assembly has been installed,v the tie members can be easily adjusted so that the bottomof the door rests evenly upon the floor 14. i g

For enabling the door tobe held or locked inits closed positionthe following arrangement is provided. The batten member 20 is spaced fromthe rear surface 39 of the door sheet 15 by the provision of a thick washer 40ron each of the bolts 41 usedfor securingthe door sheet 15 to the batten member 20. A steel strip 42, say 3 /2 inches wide and suitably curved, extends from the top to the bottom of the door and is slidably interposed between the batten member 20 and the door sheet 15,- a

horizontal slot43 being formed transversely of the strip to accommodate each of the washers 40 and permit the desired sideways sliding movement of the strip 42. The strip 42 is shown in its retracted position in Figure 4,

and it is adapted to slide out to the position 42', shown" iii-Figure 3 so as to increase the eifective width of the door 15 and thus cause it to become firmly jammed between the door posts 12,13. If desired thestrip 42 can enter a recess (not shown) in the door post 12, so as to produce a. positive locking actioninstead of just an extremely powerful frictional engagement.

Aconvenient actuating mechanism for the strip 42- is shown in Figure 4 and comprises an external handle 44inco1porating a lock 45 (such handles are now commonly used for motor-car doors) and having a spindle may be made. For instance, additional curved batte members may be used between the two side brackets'in' has been found satisfactory to insert the requisite quantity 46 upon which an eccentric 47 is fixed; this eccentric is formed with a boss 48 which is snugly rotatable in a bear ing plate 49 extending between the batten member Ztland a J-shaped bracket 50. A connecting rod member 51' made of sheet metal has a sheave portion52fittingover the eccentric 47, its other end being bent at'right angles tween the head 57 thereof and the lug. 54. The bolt 55'v has-.a-locked nut 58 adapted to bear'against the lug 53 so that the spring 56 acts normally to urge the lugs 53 and 54 into tight engagement. Therefore, when'the handle 44 is turned in the locking direction, the eccentric 47 moves the connecting'rod memberSl to-the'left,1 therstripi 42, moving as one therewith, but when the: outerfedge 59 of the strip 42 meets the door post 12 (Figurei2) its movement is obstructed. Nevertheless the haudlef44r and eccentric 47 can continue toturn until a complete half revolution has been made, for the bolt 55 slides relative to thelug 54, the length of the spring 56 being reduced byan equal amount. Thus by, the time that the eccentric 47 has reached its dead-centre position, the strip 42 is pressing against the door post 12 and the spring 56 is operatively interposed between the eccentric'47 and the strip 42 so that it hasthe effect of resiliently expanding the width of the door, with the-result that the side oppo site to the strip 42 (i. e. the left-hand side as seen in Figure 3) is also urged into tight engagement with the corresponding door post 13. The lock 45 is adaptedto hold' the'handle 44 and eccentric 47 in thisdead-centre position so as to prevent the door'b'eing loosened until the appropriate key has been inserted.

It will be understood that the above-detailsare given by way of'example-only and that various modifications of sand or other heavy material in the container 22, and

then seal it, say by welding a cover of sheet metal into position. If desired the door sheet may be moulded, pressed or otherwise formed so that it is curved horizontally as well as vertically.

l'claimz' 1. A door comprising a rectangular sheet of normally flat sheet material, a pair of batten members each havingan arcuately curved front face, said batten mem-,

bershaving their curved faces fastened along opposite parallel edges of the sheet to bend and hold the sheet to a part-cylindrical curvature, a first tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of one batten member to the top of the other batten member, a second tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of said other batten member to the top of said one batten member, and a length-adjusting de vice. in each of said tie members, the tie members ex tending chordwise behind the curvedsheet.

a 2. A door comprising arectangular sheet of normally flat sheet material, a pair of batten members each having an arcuately curved front face, said batten members having their curved faces fastened along opposite parallel edges of the sheet to bend and hold the sheet to a part cylindrical curvature, a first tie member extending diagonallyfrom the bottom extremity of one batten memher to the top of the other batten member, a second tie member extending diagonally from the bottom exin the-middle of each tie member, and a bolt which passes 3 through the two slots where they cross and is tightened to clamp the tie members together.

4. A=door comprising a rectangular sheet of normally flat sheet material, a pair of upright batten members each having an arcuately curved front face, said batten members having their curved faces-fastened along" mutually parallel upright edges of the sheet to bend and'hold the sheet to a part-cylindrical curvature about a horizontal axis, a first tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of one batten member to the top of the other batten member, a second tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of said other batten member to the top of said one batten member, and a length-adjusting device in each of said tie members, thetie members extending chordwise behind the curved sheet, so that variation of their length by-the length-adjusting means causes them to warp'the top and bottom edges of the door relatively in horizontal planes.

5. A door assembly comprising-a rectangular sheet of normally flat sheet material, a pair of batten members each having. an arcuately curved front face, said batten members havingtheir curved faces fastened alongopposite parallel edges of the sheet to bend and hold the sheet to apart-cylindrical curvature, a first tie member extending diagonally from the bottom-extremity of one batten member to the top of the other batten member, a second tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of said other batten member to the top of said one batten member, a length-adjusting device in each of said tie members, the tie members extending chordwise behind the curved sheet, arms extending rearwards from the batten members, and fulcrum means upon which said arms are pivotally mounted for movement about a transverse horizontal axis.

6. In a door comprising a rectangular sheet of normally flat sheet material, a pair of batten members each having an arcuately curved front face, said batten members having their curved faces fastened along opposite parallel edges of the sheet to bend and hold the sheet to a partcylindrical curvature, a first tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of one batten member to the top of the other batten member, a second tie member extending diagonally from the bottom extremity of said other batten member to the top of said one batten member, and a length-adjusting device in each of said tie members, the tie members extending chordwise behind the curved sheet, the provision of holding means comprising a movable latch member which extends down one side of the door for substantially the whole height thereof, and actuating mechanism for displacing said latch member sideways, thereby causing the door assembly to increase in total width, and thus to become jammed in the door opening.

7. A door assembly according to claim 6, in which the latch member comprises a curved strip which is mounted slidably behind the sheet forming the door, pin-and-slot means being provided to guide said strip as it slides bodily sideways.

8. A door assembly according to claim 7, in which the latch strip is slidably mounted between the rear face of the sheet forming the door and the front face of the corresponding batten member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,067,623 Smith a- Jan. 12, 1937 2,122,155 Schlatt June 28, 1938 2,143,439 Friend Jan. 10, 1939 2,257,032 7 Bass Sept. 23, 1941 2,432,563 Drake Dec. 16, 1947 2,610,366 McKee et a1. Sept. 16, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 701,456 France Jan. 7, 1931 130,230 Australia Nov. 24, 1948 

